Scripture

One day last week after a long suffering bout where I had felt like I was dangling over a deep canyon and just the tiniest error on my part or a soft whiff of wind would send me plummeting into the deep and… end, many confusing thoughts and swirling emotions gripped me. It was a […]

Inspirations

I have had more excruciating suffering bouts the past week but I won’t distress you with them. What good would that do? You know what I’m going through and how I cling to my Savior and Healer. I am thankful that joy adamantly adheres to me in spite of the suffering, a staunch ally against […]

Testimony

Like any other testimony of God’s wonders and grace, whether a major one or of the everyday kind, this story began at the deepest end of human emotions: weariness, anger, resentment, lostness, helplessness. Of hope flying away; faith groping in the dark; heart bordering to rebellion. Against God. A body and heart that have been so […]

Life Lessons

Even as I cling to this, that to be wholly God’s is the whole meaning and purpose of life, I still intentionally pursue it with a single-minded determination through the moments of everyday. I mean, it could easily wriggle out of one’s grasp like a slippery fish. And there are moments still that it’s hard […]

Saturday, our household was in a flurry as everyone looked for the missing hurricane glasses (see picture below). The maids said they had emptied out the whole cabinet where the Christmas decors were kept. No hurricane glasses. Toward the afternoon, I was beginning to resign myself that they were gone forever. Hannah and I toyed on a theory: Maybe the past maids broke them while we were away on New Year’s Day and dumped them in the garbage. Ugh! It hurt just to think about it. I liked those hurricane glasses from DaySpring and I had used them only once.

Tim left for the mall with his Dad. I settled to take a nap and before sleep set in, I thought on these.

The first week of December is gone and yet, we’re not done decorating. A few wreaths have not yet been hung; candles are not put in their places; poinsettia plants have not been bought. And the hurricane glasses cannot be found. The top of the piano will be bare this year. Well, come to think of it — it doesn’t really matter. The decorating can be left half-finished and who cares? Well, we do care because we look at our neighbors and how they have completed their decors inside and out and last month yet! But wait, if I don’t consider other people’s actions, I wouldn’t really care if our decors are not perfect. Why do I keep doing things which are an effect of what other people do? And why do we get ourselves so stressed up during this season? Not to mention the menu planning for Christmas Eve dinner (noche buena for the Philippines), the shopping, gift-wrapping, kids’ Christmas parties in school, etc.

I feel weary just by thinking about it. But this time, I will not force myself to get up and finish all the decorating (for the new maids don’t know where to put what). This time, I will not focus myself on perfecting decorations, I want to think about only One. I want to pursue Him as I’ve done the whole year. Christmas is supposed to be a time to celebrate Jesus and what He means to us, but it has become so commercialized, so stylized that its wonder and solemnity have been diluted to something material.

Can I just meditate on Him and His goodness as I lie here resting in His love? Can I just have Christmas that is full of the glory of the Savior and not the glittering lights plugged to electricity? One friend wrote on FB, after putting up their Christmas tree and completing the decorations in early-November: “It’s good to be done early so you can enjoy it longer.” I believe that’s the general sentiment of the whole Christendom. But is it the WHAT that we should be enjoying? Is it not the WHO? The King in the manger and not our spruced-up surroundings?

At last, I drifted off to a much-needed nap.

When I woke up half an hour later, I saw Hannah walking to and fro in the garden. I waved at her and she looked at me funny. “I will tell her she looked like a ghost walking there”, I thought to myself. But when she opened the door of my room, she leaned on the wall and sobbed and sobbed. She had in her hand a towel she balled and wiped her tears with it which were falling copiously.

In-between sobs, she told me what happened. She slipped while holding the vaio; it fell to the floor and the screen was shattered beyond repair. She was so scared of her Dad learning about it. She had been waiting for me to wake up so she could tell me first. (She knows that I always serve as “cushion” to the impact of her Dad’s ire when she’s done something wrong). She explained that she was making personalized Christmas tags and designing decors to surprise me with and to try to comfort me with the loss of the hurricane glasses.

She was a picture of complete repentance. Mercy flooded my heart and I gathered her in my arms. I rocked her back and forth, whispering gently, “Shhh. You didn’t intend to do it. I will talk to your Dad about it, don’t you worry. When I’m done, I will call for you and you will hug him and say you’re sorry, okay?”

She felt so relieved and said, “Thank you, Mom.”

Mercy. This is what I have received from the Savior. I knew then how I am (we all are) indebted to the Lord Jesus Christ. My forgiveness, my salvation, my life, my reformation, my hope of eternity – I owe it all to Him. This is what He’s done. This is what I want to remember. This season of Christmas.

Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:10-12)

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It is my hope and prayer that this place, where like a drink offering, I pour out my heart and soul through words, will be a place where you find comfort and refreshment for your spirit. May you "meet" the Savior here and leave blessed, in any form that you need His blessing. View my complete profile.